Audioholics: Let's Talk Bass 'N Treble...

[PearlcorderS701]

It's the damndest thing...on my home system, running a nice, clean, powerful stereo receiver with some good bookshelves and nice sources (Marantz, etc.), I don't find a need to move the rotary bass and treble knobs of the receiver at all beyond the "12:00" default/flat position, for any CD or tuner signal.

In my car, which has a JBL head unit and speakers upgrade as a factory option, I can run the system on bass, treble and mid on "flat" (0 across the board) but once I start playing with those controls, the system definitely sounds much better than with all tone adjustments on 0 -- I ended up using settings I found online provided by the owner of a new Lexus LS Sport who adjusted his Mark Levinson system with Bass on "+3", Midrange on "+2" and Treble on "+1" because my JBL system is pretty much a "watered down" variant of the Mark Levinson unit (the same Harman International parent owns them)...these settings make everything sound good, just needing some additional treble perhaps (the guy who posted these settings he uses in his Lexus went on to say that with Bass at +3, Midrange at +2 and Treble at +1, it makes his car sound like a high-end home component system, although I don't know what his reference point was). Still, "flat" tone settings in my car don't sound all that great, while I don't mind them at home...

Which brings us to the home theater system -- I have always left Bass and Treble on my HT receivers on "flat" (or "0dB") with the thinking that with a subwoofer, you don't need to goose the Bass (well, or the Treble) for the front channels...

What are everyone's thoughts on tone controls and how they relate to different listening environments? Is it okay, do you think, to leave the home system with tone on flat (or even defeated via Direct modes) while running tone adjustments in the car? Just because I use flat Bass and Treble in the home system, does this mean I should, or have to, use flat settings in the car?

 

[highfigh]

It's the damndest thing...on my home system, running a nice, clean, powerful stereo receiver with some good bookshelves and nice sources (Marantz, etc.), I don't find a need to move the rotary bass and treble knobs of the receiver at all beyond the "12:00" default/flat position, for any CD or tuner signal.

In my car, which has a JBL head unit and speakers upgrade as a factory option, I can run the system on bass, treble and mid on "flat" (0 across the board) but once I start playing with those controls, the system definitely sounds much better than with all tone adjustments on 0 -- I ended up using settings I found online provided by the owner of a new Lexus LS Sport who adjusted his Mark Levinson system with Bass on "+3", Midrange on "+2" and Treble on "+1" because my JBL system is pretty much a "watered down" variant of the Mark Levinson unit (the same Harman International parent owns them)...these settings make everything sound good, just needing some additional treble perhaps (the guy who posted these settings he uses in his Lexus went on to say that with Bass at +3, Midrange at +2 and Treble at +1, it makes his car sound like a high-end home component system, although I don't know what his reference point was). Still, "flat" tone settings in my car don't sound all that great, while I don't mind them at home...

Which brings us to the home theater system -- I have always left Bass and Treble on my HT receivers on "flat" (or "0dB") with the thinking that with a subwoofer, you don't need to goose the Bass (well, or the Treble) for the front channels...

What are everyone's thoughts on tone controls and how they relate to different listening environments? Is it okay, do you think, to leave the home system with tone on flat (or even defeated via Direct modes) while running tone adjustments in the car? Just because I use flat Bass and Treble in the home system, does this mean I should, or have to, use flat settings in the car?

'Flat' is flat response with no compensation for ambient noise or preferences. If you were to set up an RTA in a car when it's not running, you'll see that the ambient noise is pretty much the same as if you were in a room at home but as soon as you start the engine and leave the radio & all accessories off, the noise floor increases drastically at the low end. Then, if you begin to drive, the road noise adds to the noise floor and depending on how well the manufacturer dampened/insulated and isolated everything, you'll see that the ambient noise floor can be as high as 85dB without any other input. This falls off rapidly as the frequency increases and in order to hear the bass in the audio programming, it must be raised to a point where it's no longer being masked by the ambient noise. In addition, some of the road noise can actually cancel the bass signals from the car stereo because it's acoustically out of phase and if the manufacturer did their job correctly, they would have verified this during development.

If you look at the graph from an RTA and change the tone controls so the stereo's output response is similar, the sound will be similar to what was heard before the engine started and you started driving because the difference between the signal and noise floor will be restored to what it was before the engine was started and you began driving.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

'Flat' is flat response with no compensation for ambient noise or preferences. If you were to set up an RTA in a car when it's not running, you'll see that the ambient noise is pretty much the same as if you were in a room at home but as soon as you start the engine and leave the radio & all accessories off, the noise floor increases drastically at the low end. Then, if you begin to drive, the road noise adds to the noise floor and depending on how well the manufacturer dampened/insulated and isolated everything, you'll see that the ambient noise floor can be as high as 85dB without any other input. This falls off rapidly as the frequency increases and in order to hear the bass in the audio programming, it must be raised to a point where it's no longer being masked by the ambient noise. In addition, some of the road noise can actually cancel the bass signals from the car stereo because it's acoustically out of phase and if the manufacturer did their job correctly, they would have verified this during development.

If you look at the graph from an RTA and change the tone controls so the stereo's output response is similar, the sound will be similar to what was heard before the engine started and you started driving because the difference between the signal and noise floor will be restored to what it was before the engine was started and you began driving.

Hey Highfi,

Thanks for your thoughts here; I understand that the noise floor is of course much higher in a car as soon as the vehicle gets up to speed...it's just weird because I can leave the Bass and Treble knobs on my home system at flat (the "12:00" position) and never touch them no matter what I'm playing, while in the car, I quickly get "tired" of such a literally flat sound if the JBL car system is at "0" across the board for tone control.

I feel like, if I am "goosing" the tone in the car, maybe I should also start tinkering with the Bass and Treble knobs on my home stereo receiver...

 

[highfigh]

Hey Highfi,

Thanks for your thoughts here; I understand that the noise floor is of course much higher in a car as soon as the vehicle gets up to speed...it's just weird because I can leave the Bass and Treble knobs on my home system at flat (the "12:00" position) and never touch them no matter what I'm playing, while in the car, I quickly get "tired" of such a literally flat sound if the JBL car system is at "0" across the board for tone control.

I feel like, if I am "goosing" the tone in the car, maybe I should also start tinkering with the Bass and Treble knobs on my home stereo receiver...

The only time the noise floor at home changes is when something, or someone, makes noise. There's no reason to change the controls at home because the ambient noise level is low enough that a basically flat (or more correctly, a smooth) frequency response sounds correct. If you haven't read/heard before, humans don't perceive all frequencies to be equally loud (look for Fletcher-Munson curve) and that's why people who think they know how to set an equalizer tend to set the sliding controls in a way that makes them look like a happy face.Boosting the bass and treble makes those regions louder and that makes many people happy. For a while. Until they find that it's unnatural, fatiguing their ears and it blows speakers when the volume is cranked because it decreases headroom.

 

[walter duque]

I don't know what kind of Mark Levinson System they put in the Lexus LS Sport, all I can tell you the one in my Lexus GX 470 is very disappointing. A few settings could not improve SQ in this poor system.

 

[Hi Ho]

My Mazda has the basic stock system and it actually sounds very good. I never touch the bass/treble controls. They are flat. My car does, however, have an automatic level control system that adjusts the volume and EQ according to ambient noise. It really makes a difference. If I turn that feature off, the the bass disappears into the road noise. With the feature on it stays relatively flat. As an added bonus, I don't have to turn the volume up when getting on the freeway and down when getting off. It's all automatic.

I rarely touch the bass/treble controls on my home system. I have a "Bass" button programed into my remote that loads one of the Yamaha system memories. In that mode, the sub is boosted and the bass control is boosted by 3db. I only use that mode if I'm playing bass heavy music very loud while working around the house and want a little extra punch.

 

[yepimonfire]

It's the damndest thing...on my home system, running a nice, clean, powerful stereo receiver with some good bookshelves and nice sources (Marantz, etc.), I don't find a need to move the rotary bass and treble knobs of the receiver at all beyond the "12:00" default/flat position, for any CD or tuner signal.

In my car, which has a JBL head unit and speakers upgrade as a factory option, I can run the system on bass, treble and mid on "flat" (0 across the board) but once I start playing with those controls, the system definitely sounds much better than with all tone adjustments on 0 -- I ended up using settings I found online provided by the owner of a new Lexus LS Sport who adjusted his Mark Levinson system with Bass on "+3", Midrange on "+2" and Treble on "+1" because my JBL system is pretty much a "watered down" variant of the Mark Levinson unit (the same Harman International parent owns them)...these settings make everything sound good, just needing some additional treble perhaps (the guy who posted these settings he uses in his Lexus went on to say that with Bass at +3, Midrange at +2 and Treble at +1, it makes his car sound like a high-end home component system, although I don't know what his reference point was). Still, "flat" tone settings in my car don't sound all that great, while I don't mind them at home...

Which brings us to the home theater system -- I have always left Bass and Treble on my HT receivers on "flat" (or "0dB") with the thinking that with a subwoofer, you don't need to goose the Bass (well, or the Treble) for the front channels...

What are everyone's thoughts on tone controls and how they relate to different listening environments? Is it okay, do you think, to leave the home system with tone on flat (or even defeated via Direct modes) while running tone adjustments in the car? Just because I use flat Bass and Treble in the home system, does this mean I should, or have to, use flat settings in the car?

to me the tone controls on a receiver are next to useless because they center on a single frequency and pull a large number of octaves up in a "bell curve" with it. In a car, its the same thing but most car systems have a bass control centered on 100hz, which is a terrible frequency to boost. the treble function can be useful since more then likely unless you have a component system where the tweeters are detached from the woofers the treble isn't as pronounced due to being severely off axis from the tweeter (especially when the speakers are in a door, near the floor) depending on the car and the frequency and how wide the range it boosts is, i may find it useful. with accurate speakers in a home setup nearly 100% of the time messing with the tone controls just makes them sound worse then before. i also must note a bass control knob is NEVER a replacement for a sub for multiple reasons. as stated before they center on a single frequency, while they may extend the roll off point, it throws frequencies the speakers are capable of reproducing without an EQ way off the charts just ruining the sound. on most AV receivers they tend to center on 50hz, much better then 100 but still most speakers, even bookshelf type speakers can go down to 50hz, if i really wanted to extend the low end of my speakers i would add a seperate multi-band EQ and a seperate amplifier to handle the extreme increase in power draw it would bring about. they also are really no good for flattening speaker/room response because of the single center frequency. that being said, IMO the only people who could find them useful would be rap/hip hop listeners

 

[TLS Guy]

Here you can see the standard Bass/treble controls as devised by Baxandall. These are the ones most commonly used. You will also see Peter Walker's 10, 7 and 5 kHz turn over controls with adjustable slope. Now that is a really useful tone control when playing LPs.

Note he uses a subsonic filter, which greatly helps mitigates blowing speakers if the bass tone control is used excessively.

 

[highfigh]

I don't know what kind of Mark Levinson System they put in the Lexus LS Sport, all I can tell you the one in my Lexus GX 470 is very disappointing. A few settings could not improve SQ in this poor system.

Well, is it lack of power, bass, treble or what? Remember, you do like music a lot louder than most people and that affects a couple of details- your hearing may not be what it was and that makes it impossible for you to like the sound of a system that was designed to sound good to the masses who may not have listened to anything better than a factory car stereo.

 

[KEW]

Great question and topic!

To feed off of your question and HighFigh's response, what are your preferred EQ settings in the car when the engine is not running and you are sitting still?

Also, I'm not at all convinced that having the tone controls set to "flat" is truly flat. I have to wonder, since the manufacturer has an unprecedented level of knowledge of conditions (the specific speakers, their position, cabin noise characteristics, and listening space) if they don't take license to tweak things as they see fit. Or, another way to look at it is "what vehicle conditions do they tune for?"

However, to answer your question; Whatever sounds best to you is the best setting - just be mindful of settings for a specific passage may not be ideal for another song/content. In the end, you are finding the settings that are best "on average".

It is disappointing, IMHO, that manufacturers have gotten away from the Loudness contour control. While depending on the efficiency of your speakers and the manufacturers approach to this control, YMMV; Yamaha's variable loudness contour approach seemed to offer a good solution. I am very happy with the SQ of my current system, but find that I rarely listen to music at lower volumes (say, much below 75-80db) any more and wonder if that is due to the lack of bass and treble (as realized by the human ear) at these lower levels.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

The only time the noise floor at home changes is when something, or someone, makes noise.

I understand...

There's no reason to change the controls at home because the ambient noise level is low enough that a basically flat (or more correctly, a smooth) frequency response sounds correct.

Is this the actual reason, or could it be the electronics are just simply..."better" at home (in my case)? I mean, I have never had the need to get out of my chair, at home, walk over to the receiver and manually adjust the Bass and Treble knobs for any source I am listening to. And some of them are poorly recorded or mastered. But this brings us to an interesting part of the discussion, which you actually address below:

If you haven't read/heard before, humans don't perceive all frequencies to be equally loud (look for Fletcher-Munson curve) and that's why people who think they know how to set an equalizer tend to set the sliding controls in a way that makes them look like a happy face.Boosting the bass and treble makes those regions louder and that makes many people happy. For a while. Until they find that it's unnatural, fatiguing their ears and it blows speakers when the volume is cranked because it decreases headroom.

Are you suggesting the "happy face" EQ curve is what makes people -- directly -- happy?

Seriously, it's interesting that you brought this up -- years ago, I had always liked the sound of an outboard EQ connected to my home and car systems for the exact reasons mentioned here...the "goosed up" frequencies when an EQ was put into the "S-Curve" or "Smiley Face" made the system, in perception, louder and more forceful with the frequencies pushed up in these regions. I had emerged from that school of "you always set your EQ like that -- in that smiley face shape" belief and theory, so I know what you mean. In my old home system, many years ago, I had a graphic EQ hooked up to the receiver and integrated amps' TAPE 2 loop, and I always loved the way it made music sound -- the funny thing is, I can recall jacking up the Treble control on the amp or receiver (whatever I was running at the time) even with the EQ's high frequencies goosed up to compensate for what I had assumed was my (at the time) JBL tower speakers; I don't recall the Bass needing jacking, but I did increase the Treble even with the EQ running. When an EQ is in the loop, the tone controls should definitely be on flat, or so goes the theory anyway.

But, now that I'm older and better educated on these issues, I am finding a good receiver/amp or preamp, whatever, could be left on "Flat" or "12:00" or even on Source Direct for the cleanest possible signal -- I don't tweak the Bass or Treble knobs, as I said, on my current system, but I do run the stereo receiver in a standard Stereo mode, so the controls are in the signal loop, thus bypassing the Direct mode...

Thoughts?

 

[PearlcorderS701]

I don't know what kind of Mark Levinson System they put in the Lexus LS Sport, all I can tell you the one in my Lexus GX 470 is very disappointing. A few settings could not improve SQ in this poor system.

I am uncertain exactly what kind of ML system is in the LS Sport (must be their top of the line to be in the Lexus flagship though), but I am sorry to hear about your GX's system; my reasoning for fooling with my JBL system's settings in relation to how the owner who provided his comments on the LS Sport on a Lexus Owner's Club site was that they're all under the same "parent umbrella" of Harman International, so there must be at least some sonic signature similarities between the setups...

Have you played with your ML's Bass, Treble and Midrange enough? Where do you keep them set at as of now?

 

[PearlcorderS701]

My Mazda has the basic stock system and it actually sounds very good. I never touch the bass/treble controls. They are flat. My car does, however, have an automatic level control system that adjusts the volume and EQ according to ambient noise. It really makes a difference. If I turn that feature off, the the bass disappears into the road noise. With the feature on it stays relatively flat. As an added bonus, I don't have to turn the volume up when getting on the freeway and down when getting off. It's all automatic.

Hi Ho,

My Camry SE has that feature too -- Toyota calls it "ASL -- Automatic Sound Leveling" but I find that it doesn't do much even when engaged. What kind of Mazda do you have? Is it an RX-8, 6, Milennia, 3?

That's interesting that you don't touch the bass and treble controls...your music sounds "full enough" with the controls at 0? You never feel a need for more bass or highs? My JBL "upgrade" system sounds rather...well...flat when bass, mid and treble are set to "0"...

I rarely touch the bass/treble controls on my home system. I have a "Bass" button programed into my remote that loads one of the Yamaha system memories. In that mode, the sub is boosted and the bass control is boosted by 3db. I only use that mode if I'm playing bass heavy music very loud while working around the house and want a little extra punch.

Do you have a separate two channel system, or are you referring to your Yamaha surround receiver's bass and treble controls? The HT receiver is a totally different issue -- on my Onkyo surround AVR, I never move the digitally-controlled bass and treble settings beyond "0dB" for the left and right front mains. I never feel a need to especially with a subwoofer in the system mix. In my home dedicated two channel setup, I leave my stereo receiver's bass and treble knobs at "12:00" or "midway" in position.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

to me the tone controls on a receiver are next to useless because they center on a single frequency and pull a large number of octaves up in a "bell curve" with it. In a car, its the same thing but most car systems have a bass control centered on 100hz, which is a terrible frequency to boost. the treble function can be useful since more then likely unless you have a component system where the tweeters are detached from the woofers the treble isn't as pronounced due to being severely off axis from the tweeter (especially when the speakers are in a door, near the floor) depending on the car and the frequency and how wide the range it boosts is, i may find it useful.

Well, whether they're useless beyond a certain frequency or what, tone controls have helped me in the past with boosting either the highs or lows; and I know exactly what you're talking about with regard to car audio speakers and their "detached" pieces (these speakers are actually called "coaxials" in which the tweeters are mounted atop or separate from the other drivers, and same with some midranges)...whatever the situation, my particular car system sounds a bit better with controls off of "0"...

with accurate speakers in a home setup nearly 100% of the time messing with the tone controls just makes them sound worse then before. i also must note a bass control knob is NEVER a replacement for a sub for multiple reasons. as stated before they center on a single frequency, while they may extend the roll off point, it throws frequencies the speakers are capable of reproducing without an EQ way off the charts just ruining the sound. on most AV receivers they tend to center on 50hz, much better then 100 but still most speakers, even bookshelf type speakers can go down to 50hz, if i really wanted to extend the low end of my speakers i would add a seperate multi-band EQ and a seperate amplifier to handle the extreme increase in power draw it would bring about. they also are really no good for flattening speaker/room response because of the single center frequency. that being said, IMO the only people who could find them useful would be rap/hip hop listeners

Well, we all know how you feel about good main channel speakers and the need/use of a sub...

Seriously, though, you are more than likely right about good speakers in a home setup not requiring tinkering with tone controls; however, I must question this comment you made with regard to what you stated in my previous Polk PSW350 sub thread:

if i really wanted to extend the low end of my speakers i would add a seperate multi-band EQ and a seperate amplifier to handle the extreme increase in power draw it would bring about.

Didn't you say in that other thread that low-end frequencies do NOT draw more power or current and that this has been a nonsensical myth thrown about the audio field? I thought you were claiming in that thread that it's NOT the bass that's demanding on electronics, even though most people have been "told this" for years?

 

[Hi Ho]

I have a Mazda 3. The feature actually has three levels. I leave it on level three because that seems to be work best. I really have never felt the need to adjust the bass or treble while listening to music in my car. It is quite well balanced. I will sometimes turn the trebel down during a phonecall if the other persons voice comes through grating and harsh but that's it. The system in my car has seperate tweeters in the A pillars. The woofers are in the doors. Maybe that is part of the balanced sound?

I was talking about the Yamaha receiver. It actually has custom bass/treble controls with adjustable frequency. I believe I have my "Bass button" set to boost frequencies below 125hz. I rarely use this. If I'm in another room or working around the house and want a bigger bass punch then this does the trick. Otherwise I keep it flat and I am very happy.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

Great question and topic!

Thanks KEW; glad you participated as well!

To feed off of your question and HighFigh's response, what are your preferred EQ settings in the car when the engine is not running and you are sitting still?

That's a good question -- I never really tried that in those conditions; what I have found is this:

When I first got the car, I used some favorite CDs that I knew were well-mastered to adjust the Bass, Treble and Midrange off from their "0" midway points (the system allows adjustment for each of these from "-5" points to "0" and then to "+5" points for the extreme), allowing me to adjust the settings to what I casually thought my ear was liking. This developed adjustments of slightly higher Treble settings, like a point or two over the Bass, with Midrange in the "+2" adjustment.

I then stumbled upon a Lexus Enthusiast site in which an owner of a new gorgeous LS Sport did a review of the car, and he stated that he set his Mark Levinson system's settings to "Bass: +3,"Midrange: +2" and "Treble: +1" and set this way, his system sounded like "the equivalent of a high-end home component system"...my reasoning for copying these settings into my JBL system was that with my car being the "parent poor man's" version of the Lexus models (so to speak) and my JBL coming from the same factory as his Mark Levinson, his settings could have been ideal for my car, too -- but perhaps I shouldn't have thought this way because it's much like the TV calibration theory...that you shouldn't just "plug in" someone else's picture settings even though they may have the same model.

Then, I started thinking about my home two channel and surround systems, and how I keep the Bass and Treble on those at "flat" and never had a problem -- so I started fooling around with the JBL car system at "0" across the board as well, the thinking being "well, if my home system sounds good flat without needing tone boost, the car system needs to be set this way too..."

But I don't know; in the car, it does sound sweeter with the bass cranked up and the treble up a bit...the midrange is the most difficult thing to set, as no matter how I play with it, I can't make out if it's making the sound better or worse.

Also, I'm not at all convinced that having the tone controls set to "flat" is truly flat. I have to wonder, since the manufacturer has an unprecedented level of knowledge of conditions (the specific speakers, their position, cabin noise characteristics, and listening space) if they don't take license to tweak things as they see fit. Or, another way to look at it is "what vehicle conditions do they tune for?"

Right -- and totally understandable. I have wondered that as well; I mean, what makes JBL/Toyota so right when they say their "0" mark is "flat"? In the system, the "0" mark represents no bass, treble or midrange adjustment -- but how are we to know if this is "the best" setting for an accurate soundstage?

However, to answer your question; Whatever sounds best to you is the best setting - just be mindful of settings for a specific passage may not be ideal for another song/content. In the end, you are finding the settings that are best "on average".

Indeed; this may be the only answer here. I did try to find the best settings for average playback, as I am not one of those people who like to tweak tone controls for each song -- I want to set it and forget it. It's been the most difficult thing to try and adjust this car system's settings, especially the midrange control, as I don't really know what "sounds best". I have actually driven around with controls at "0" and thought "well, it sounds okay..." but then if I adjust the controls back to where that Lexus owner recommended on his ML system, it indeed sounds punchier and "more alive"...

It is disappointing, IMHO, that manufacturers have gotten away from the Loudness contour control. While depending on the efficiency of your speakers and the manufacturers approach to this control, YMMV; Yamaha's variable loudness contour approach seemed to offer a good solution. I am very happy with the SQ of my current system, but find that I rarely listen to music at lower volumes (say, much below 75-80db) any more and wonder if that is due to the lack of bass and treble (as realized by the human ear) at these lower levels.

I am in total agreement with you -- I cannot stand that my Onkyo stereo receiver doesn't have a Loundness circuit, but oddly enough, the more expensive A-9555 integrated amp has one. Further, a button like this is perfect for low level listening, and I can recall an old Kenwood car head unit I had in a 1991 Nissan 240SX had a loudness button...

 

[PearlcorderS701]

I have a Mazda 3. The feature actually has three levels. I leave it on level three because that seems to be work best. I really have never felt the need to adjust the bass or treble while listening to music in my car. It is quite well balanced. I will sometimes turn the trebel down during a phonecall if the other persons voice comes through grating and harsh but that's it. The system in my car has seperate tweeters in the A pillars. The woofers are in the doors. Maybe that is part of the balanced sound?

Oh, okay -- yeah, I think some of the Camry systems have that three-tiered setting for the ASL, but the JBL system doesn't. It's just ON or OFF for ASL. Leaving it ON, there isn't much difference from OFF even on the highway, where my car's tire noise and other anamolies make it a deafening, overtly harsh and uncomfortable ride (of course, I'm sitting on 18s, but that's a discussion for another time and forum).

Have you ever experimented with raising the bass and treble? Also, you mentioned you have the base-level system, right? See, with my JBL, I figured I paid for the upgraded system, so should I really be leaving the tones at 0?

I was talking about the Yamaha receiver. It actually has custom bass/trebel controls with adjustable frequency. I believe I have my "Bass button" set to boost frequencies below 125hz. I rarely use this. If I'm in another room or working around the house and want a bigger bass punch then this does the trick. Otherwise I keep it flat and I am very happy.

Yes -- but which Yamaha receiver? HT?

 

[Hi Ho]

Yes -- but which Yamaha receiver? HT?

It is the RX-V2700 that runs my theater system. I use the same system for 2 channel music.

Road noise in my car is quite supressed on all but the roughest pavement. If I'm rolling on silky smooth black top pavement I can hear the effect of the auto level feature quite well. The bass definetly gets boosted along with the overall volume.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

It is the RX-V2700 that runs my theater system. I use the same system for 2 channel music.

Gotcha.

What kind of "bass" feature is this on the 2700?

Road noise in my car is quite supressed on all but the roughest pavement. If I'm rolling on silky smooth black top pavement I can hear the effect of the auto level feature quite well. The bass definetly gets boosted along with the overall volume.

You are fortunate then -- even in the midsize class, which my car falls into, the ride is unnaturally choppy versus the competition, but this could be because of the sport setup my model utilizes, plus the addition of the upgraded wheels and tires I bought...

That's good that your system has a noticeable change in the auto leveling system -- mine definitely doesn't.

 

[Hi Ho]

Gotcha.

What kind of "bass" feature is this on the 2700?

It's not a feature of the receiver. I utilize the system memory presets in the Yamaha.

Example: Different calibrations for different seating positions and for 2 channel stereo. I programmed my MX-900 remote to load different memory slots. If I press "Bass" on the MX-900 it loads memory slot 5 which sets it to 2 channel stereo with the bass and sub level boosted. If I want normal settings I press "Stereo" which loads memory slot 6. "Left" is for the left seating position for surround sound, and so on.